Chasing winter...

[TX_Arvee]

Decided to run to North Texas and see if we could find winter... At what point is it necessary to turn on the tank heaters. And is this specifically for the black tank or is their one on all the water tanks?

We aren't going to stick around in 17 degree weather for long (if it gets that cold) just wondering about the tank heater as we never get around cold weather much

[Bobs A Class]

Hope this helps. We leave from Illinois for south Texas after New Year’s. Motor-home is winterized. We will not use the tanks until we get out of freezing weather, above 32 degrees. This applies to both tanks. Probably won’t dewinterize until Texas. Tank heaters may be a great thing, not sure, but how would I know if they were keeping tanks warm enough?

[Mr.Oz]

We used tank heaters on our trailer and they kept the tanks warm enough not to freeze even down to zero. But we ended up with frozen lines. Best bet is to stay winterized until you are above freezing.

[reitrof]

Agreed, Tank heaters will not prevent the lines from freezing.

[bgermane]

Not sure why Jayco bothers with the tank pads, because as everyone has already stated, you still freeze your piping. To answer your question - the pads are installed on all three tanks. If the temps are hovering around freezing, I won't bother turning them on till we get to camp. I figure all the movement while driving should keep things in the safe zone. Remember, you need to have some fluid in the tanks to use them. If it's really cold, sub-25, I'll turn them on while driving and throw some antifreeze in the black/grey tanks. After awhile, it mixes and keeps the discharge piping from freezing.

[rthomann]

Bob, wondered where you are heading in south Texas. We are leaving southern Illinois for San Benito tomorrow morning. Questioning whether or not to dewinterize before leaving on not. Looks like upper 20s in Arkansas.

[Touch N Go]

Very nice, home of Freddy Fender.

[rthomann]

Right you are....and the bar where he used to perform is now a quilt store ;-)

[TX_Arvee]

Notes from trip: 1.) Cover cab opening with thick blanket. Cab area transfers a lot of cold into the RV from the windows and un-insulated doors and floor. Blanket helped keep the warm in. 2.) slides are nicely sealed on three sides, but the bottoms tended to transfer in a lot of cold. A few rolled up towels stopped this air intrusion. 3.) First night at 26 degrees the water hose froze. I was dumb for not noticing others disconnecting. A 110v heat traced water hose fixed this. Next place I wrapped the supply head and camp side pipe and traced hose kept water flowing. 4.) Even with City Water frozen, RV piping was not frozen. Water pump worked fin to supply water from tank. 5.) In the 31FS I noticed that wherever my water systems are, there are also heating ducts. I think this is intentional to keep some heat in these areas. I have removed the little panel from under the shower to allow more warm in under the shower and in wall where piping is located. 6.) we ran the heater and a 110v 1500w heater and it kept us very comfortable. We could easily go 5 days on one tank of propane running the heat a lot. 7.) Even when hose was frozen, the water tank drain flowed freely.....Lowest temps we saw where in the 20's. We headed south in fear of ice storm.

[D&MAKAFUN]

TX Arvee. Thanks for sharing your experiences. Good education for us all. They were calling for 32 degrees in Dallas area. Hope they don't get moisture with that. I have seen ice slush 6" thick on interstates around Dallas and that ain't no fun.
Safe travels home.